Massachusetts Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue recently sent reminders to Employers in Massachusetts about the upcoming Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure (HIRD) form that will be available November 1, 2018. The HIRD form is a new state reporting requirement in Massachusetts in 2018. The HIRD form collects employer-level information about employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) offered by employers. The HIRD reporting is administered by MassHealth and the Department of Revenue (DOR) through the MassTaxConnect (MTC) web portal. The HIRD form is meant to assist MassHealth in identifying its members with access to qualifying Employee Sponsored Insurance who may be eligible for the MassHealth Premium Assistance Program.

The HIRD reporting replaces the former Massachusetts Fair Share Reporting last collected in 2013 and also the former HIRD form which was repealed in 2014.  These changes are the result of the repeal of Massachusetts Fair Share Contribution and the institution of the Employer Medical Assistance Contribution. These changes bring Massachusetts state law in line with the Federal Affordable Care Act, removing the state’s Shared Responsibility assessment and replacing it with the Employer Medical Assistance Contribution now levied on employers regardless of whether an employer offers ESI or not.

What You Should Know

Massachusetts state law requires every employer in Massachusetts with six or more employees to annually submit a HIRD form. An employer who currently has (or had) six or more employees in any month during the past 12 months preceding the due date of this form (November 30, 2018 for the current year), are required to complete the HIRD form. An individual is considered to be an employee if the employee is subject to Unemployment Wage Reporting. Employers who reported six or more employees on any DUA wage report during the past 12 months are required to complete the HIRD form.

The HIRD reporting is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue through the MassTaxConnect (MTC) web portal. The MTC is where employer-taxpayers register to file returns, forms, and make tax payments. To file the HIRD form, employers may login to their MTC withholding account and select the “File health insurance responsibility disclosure” hyperlink under the account alerts. If an employer does not have an MTC account, or needs to update password and/or username, instructions are provided on the MTC web page (https://mtc.dor.state.ma.us/mtc/_/#1) or contact the DOR at 617-466-3940.

Information Required for HIRD Reporting 

The HIRD Form will collect information about the employer’s insurance offerings, including:

• Summary of benefits for all available health plans
• Eligibility criteria for insurance offerings
• Total monthly premiums of all available health plans
• Employer and employee shares of monthly premiums

Due to the nature of the required information, employers in Massachusetts generally need to complete this reporting themselves or in partnership with their benefits provider as Paylocity does not maintain the information required to complete this filing.

Thank you for choosing Paylocity as your Payroll Tax partner. Should you have any questions please contact your Paylocity Account Manager.

This information is provided as a courtesy, may change and is not intended as legal or tax guidance. Employers with questions or concerns outside the scope of a Payroll Service Provider are encouraged to seek the advice of a qualified CPA, Tax Attorney or Advisor.